As we had a packed itinerary ahead of us today, we had been given a time of 7.30am to be on the coach. We therefore got up at 6.15am and got washed and dressed into suitable clothing for the tropical heat. As we’d be climbing in and out of boats, I decided to take my trainers with me and change into them as needed; I prefer to wear flip-flops or sandals in hot weather rather than having my feet closed in, but trainers are often more practical.
After dressing in white linen trousers and a patterned t-shirt, I loaded my bum-bag with hand sanitiser, tissues, lip balm and anything else I thought I’d need. Then I clipped it securely around my waist and we went down to the hotel’s large and airy dining room.
I must admit that there seemed to be a strange selection of breakfast foods; at least strange to Westerners. There was beef noodle soup, stir-fried vegetables and chillies as well as the more familiar dishes of cereal, bacon, different styles of eggs, yogurts, fruits and patisserie. I enjoyed a bowl of muesli and some fruits washed down with water, orange juice and good hot coffee. I had to be sure to drink enough water today as it would be all to easy to become dehydrated in the strong sun.
Once we’d finished breakfast we returned to 717 to collect our water bottles which had been refilled and kept in the fridge all night. Then Trevor shouldered his rucksack with contained my trainers and our cagoules; it is, after all the rainy season in Thailand. 🙂 After checking to ensure we had our credit cards and plenty of Baht, the Thai currency, we were good to go. 🙂 One pound is approximately 43 bahts.
As we left the hotel to walk towards the waiting coach, a blast of hot air assailed us. Despite it only being 7.20am, it was already 26°C so we could expect a scorcher of a day.
We set off through the sunlit streets which already thronged with traffic; vehicles constantly sounding their horns. The traffic was manic; there were a great many motorbikes and scooters, some of them carrying entire families. Few people wore crash helmets as the scooters wove in and out of the traffic.
Aoi pointed out things of interest to us on the way, and said that in 30 minutes’ time we would be stopping at a roadside concession stand to use the “happy room”. I’d never heard it called that before; I might use that one in future! 🙂
The coach pulled into our first rest stop, and the driver handed each of the ladies a wad of tissues as we alighted. It’s not uncommon in Asia to find no toilet roll in the loos, and indeed we wondered, with trepidation, whether the toilets would be the “sitty-down” ones or the “squatty-downs”. 🙂 When I lived in Singapore as a child I took the squat toilets all in my stride, but it is much easier to hunker right down when you’re eight years old than it is when you’re in your sixties! 😀
I needn’t have worried, however, it was a sitty-down loo, even though its seat was missing. After washing my hands thoroughly and following with a generous dollop of hand sanitiser, we walked to where some stalls had been set up, selling coconut and banana products, as well as your usual holiday tat such as fridge magnets and plastic Buddha figurines.
We watched for a while as a stallholder demonstrated to us how the coconuts are opened, the water collected and the shredded coconut meat squeezed to make coconut milk. We were also offered tastes of coconut candy, dried coconut and some small glasses of fermented coconut juice. Some people in our party bought some of the stuff, but Trevor and I didn’t bother. We had brought some Imodium with us, but we really didn’t want to have to use it! 🙂
Once Aoi had rounded everyone up and we were all back on the coach, we refilled our water bottles before taking our seats. As soon as we were underway again, Aoi came around with hot snacks for us to try; banana fritters, dried mango and coconut candy.
Just before nine o’clock, we arrived at our next stop, the amazing and colourful floating markets at Damnoen Saduak, one of Thailand’s largest and most famous markets on the water. As we reached the embarkation point, we were told that each boat would carry six passengers, sitting singly or in twos. I’d already changed into my socks and trainers by now, so I stepped gingerly into the boat with the helping hands of Aoi and the boatman. Once we were all in place, off we went. 🙂
Our boatman dipped his oars in and out of the water with insouciant ease as we glided along, seeing colour everwhere we looked. A lady selling coconut ice cream and coconut juice, as well as clingfilm-covered slices of fresh pomelo, pulled up in a boat alongside us and tried to tempt us to buy. A couple of people in front of us indulged in a massive, fruit-topped ice cream each, but Trevor and I gave it a miss, and took frequent sips from our water bottles instead. The water within was already warm, but at least it was hydrating.
Trevor and I were somewhat amused at the tactcs of the stallholders to get us to look at their wares. As we glided along, a long pole with a boat-hook on the end would emerge from a stall, hook onto us, and pull us over to their stall, where a helper would then take the boat’s ropes. “Hello, hello” they cried in broken English “Where you from? You buy hat? You buy fan? How about doll? Good price, good price”.
Sometimes we all just sat there stoically, looking straight ahead, until our boatman knew we weren’t going to buy and we continued on our way. We wondered how the stall holders all competed with each other, because they were all more or less selling the same stuff: wood carvings, Buddha figurines, fans, sunhats, jars of Tiger Balm, scarves and nameless other things.
After about 30 minutes or so, we arrived back at the landing stage and disembarked, after giving our smiling boatman a tip. Aoi told us we had half an hour to look around the stalls, or use the “happy room”. I fancied a freezing cold bottle of Diet Coke, so we purchased one and I enjoyed the cold, fizzy flavour.
We browsed the shops and stalls, some of which sold really nice floaty cotton tops, skirts and trousers. Then Aoi called to us that it was time to make our way back to the bus, as we had a city tour before arriving at our lunch venue around 12 o’clock.
Back on the coach, we turned our air-con up full blast and sat underneath the stream of cold air. Then we set off once again, through the busy streets and into some of the more rural areas, where we passed flooded paddy fields and coconut and banana trees. Aoi might have told us something about our surroundings, but we sometimes tuned out on the coach, not only because we were still slightly jet-lagged, but also because you can sometimes have information overload on these escorted tours. In any case, we can always look information up on Google if we want to learn more about where we were going.
It was just before 12.00 noon before the coach parked up and Aoi told us it would be a short walk to a local eaterie for our included lunch. We went into an attractive restaurant which was scented with limes and the lingering hint of spices, and went to use the loo and wash our hands before taking a seat at a long table. It was a set meal which made the decision on what to choose easy for us; we started off by ordering a freezing cold bottle of Chang beer each. 🙂
The food consisted of several dishes being brought out; fish, beef, chicken and lots of fresh vegetables in a flavourful sauce. It was accompanied by fragrant jasmine rice and we helped ourselves, enjoying a taste of everything. After enjoying a second beer, we used the “happy room” again then everyone started to make their way back to the coach, which had pulled up outside the restaurant.
Our next stop today was to the massive Grand Palace complex. Trevor and I had visited here before; on a cruise on Queen Mary 2 in February 2010. At the time we remembered it being absolutely packed with visitors, but it wasn’t too bad today, probably because this was the start of the low season.
This place was phenomenal. Everywhere you looked there were beautiful manicured gardens and topiary, ponds with water-lilies and their gorgeous pink flowers, ornate temples and stupas and statues of Buddha as well as elephants. Many of the temples in Thailand contain the word wat in them somewhere, which I believed to be rough translation of the word ‘temple’.
Aoi asked us to be back at the meeting place by 2.30pm, so we could proceed to the Wat Pho temple and see the gigantic reclining Buddha, a sight to behold.
There was just so much to see! At the same time, the sun was very hot, and I was pleased I’d was wearing a hat. The humidity was very draining, and we took the opportunity to take brief sit-down breaks in the shade whenever possible.
If we wanted to go inside any of the temples, particularly those featuring a large Buddha effigy, we had to take our shoes off, but you had to ensure that you didn’t point your feet towards Buddha, it was considered disrespectful.
Once we’d had a good look around, we reconvened at the meeting point and followed Aoi to the Wat Pho temple, removing our shoes once again before going inside. The reclining Buddha was absolutely huge; in fact, you couldn’t really get all of him in a photo. He measures 46 metres long and is 15 metres high, and that’s lying down!
The reclining posture of the statue represents the Buddha’s entry into Nirvana, the ultimate goal of Buddhist practice.
We continued having a look around at the lavishly decorated statues and temple exteriors and interiors. It was breath-taking, and is certainly a must-see for anyone visiting Bangkok.
It was after four o’ clock before we left the Grand Palace complex and set off in the coach for the hotel once more. It would be about an hour’s ride, plus any stops we needed on the way.
During the ride back, many people napped or read or looked out of the window; the coach was very quiet. It was after half past five before we arrived back at the Solitaire Hotel, and Aoi asked us to be back on the coach tomorrow morning to leave at 7.30am prompt, as we had a long day ahead of us.
Trevor and I contemplated going in the pool again, but tiredness overcame us and we decided to go and have an hour’s power nap instead; in any case, it started to get dark around six o’clock so we wouldn’t really get long in the pool. We just pottered around in our room and got washed and changed and freshened up. I couldn’t decide whether to go back out on the town again, or just sit in the hotel bar with my tablet to do some of this blog and make the most of the “buy two beers and get one free” offer.
Around seven o’clock, I decided on the latter, but Trevor said that if I was just going to be doing my blog, he would take a walk out for 20 minutes or so. He was soon back, grinning broadly. Apparently, as he was a gentleman walking through the streets alone, he felt a hand on his arm and a very attractive young lady looked into his eyes and said “I do everything for you!” 🙂 🙂
Once we’d drank our beers, we decided we could eat something, so we went out once more into the thronging, sultry streets with their flashing neon lights and loud music, and soon we came to another “Hillary” bar; this one was “Hillary 11”. Like the bar last night, it featured live entertainment so we took some high stools at a round table, and ordered a “bucket of beer”, that is, five bottles of Chang in an ice-filled bucket. Because this was a touristy area, the beer cost more than it would have done if we’d gone somewhere where the locals drink.
We decided to share a plate of chicken nachos as we enjoyed our beers and listened to the excellent music of the live band. We liked the atmosphere in the bar and the friendliness of the waitress and bar staff; it was great.
Once we’d finished our food and our beers, and the band were taking a break, we decided to go along to the sports bar we’d spotted yesterday; the one with all the premiership club badges displayed outside.
We sat on bar stools and order a large Tiger beer each; it came in 600ml glasses and and was cold, foamy and refreshing. We’d just taken a few drinks out of it when who should walk in but Brian and Clare, who’d come for something to eat. We said we’d come and join them once they’d finished their meal, and that’s exactly what we did. We found out that the Newcastle match was being televised live in here tomorrow night, so we decided to go back then. 🙂
After another huge glass of Tiger each, we decided to call it a night around 11.30pm, and we all took the short walk back to the Solitaire.
We had to be up early again tomorrow for a very full day, which would include a visit to the world-famous Bridge over the River Kwai.
We set our alarm for 6.15am and settled down once again in our comfortable, cool room. Once again, we slept very well, looking forward to what tomorrow would bring.